"Did you hear that?" Kazuki asked Enea.
"Yes, let's go check it out, but be careful not to show up before you understand what's going on. It's best to avoid misunderstandings with the locals," Enea replied and Kazuki nodded.
Quickly but carefully, the two approached what they imagined to be some kind of battle. Now that they were close enough, they hid behind some fern bushes on the sides of what seemed to be a path.
Ahead of them was a battle between a group of six humans dressed in futuristic bodysuits with strangely large weapons, all designed for close combat, and ten fairly large theropod dinosaurs, not much taller than a human, but at least eight meters long. The humans were protecting what looked like a small armored truck.
The commander of the group appeared to be a girl with long silver hair that turned orange at the tips, and eyes of the same bright orange color. She fought with an all-silver European sword that was unusually long, just under one and a half metres , but had a thin, sharp blade. The hilt of the sword was shaped like the gaping mouth of a velociraptor, open a hundred and eighty degrees, with two massive orange claws sprouting from it. She was the only one of her group who was practically unharmed, though obviously tired; the other five were in really bad shape, full of wounds and at the end of their tether. On the other hand, all ten dinosaurs seemed to be in good shape, with no major injuries. However, not too far from the girl were the decapitated bodies of four dinosaurs of the same species, probably killed by her.
After observing the situation for a few seconds, Enea said, "Let's save them, they might give us some useful information, and above all, this is a good opportunity to make a cool entrance."
Still not quite understanding the situation, Kazuki tried to stop him by saying, "Wait! Weren't you the one who told me that we should pay attention..." but Enea was already gone.
"Damn it!", Kazuki shouted and immediately jumped to the rescue.
To the surprise of all present, Enea appeared with his black and white katana in his hand and a not at all reassuring smile on his face and decapitated the heads of three dinosaurs that had encircled one of the worse off boys. Soon after, Kazuki also arrived and threw a straight right at the snout of one of the dinosaurs that was about to eat a girl who had fallen to the ground from exhaustion, killing it in one blow, but soon after, a sharp pain in his hand hit him. "How can an animal be so tough? I should have activated the bandage before I hit it," Kazuki thought as he prepared himself for another attack.
The silver-haired girl used the chaos caused by the newcomers with a speed that even Kazuki, now after her training, could hardly keep up with and plunged her long sword into the windpipe of one of the dinosaurs in front of her, killing it instantly.
The five remaining dinosaurs, surprised by the sudden death of up to half of their herd and instinctively frightened by Enea, immediately fled deep into the forest.
Noticing that the danger had passed, Kazuki approached Enea and began to complain in a low voice, "Weren't you the one who told me we had to be careful? What are we going to do if they get suspicious now?"
"I guess we're about to find out," Enea replied when she saw the silver-haired girl approaching.
The girl was standing in front of them now, watching them intently, which made Kazuki think that what he had just told Enea had come true, but suddenly the girl bowed deeply and said, "Thank you very much for your help! If it hadn't been for you, I probably would have managed to survive, but I don't think I would have been able to save all those beginners from that group of Wiehenvenators," she said in a voice that was both melodious and exuberant.
"Beginners?" Kazuki asked.
"Yes, this was their first hunting mission and I was sent with them to monitor the success of their hunt and to protect them in case of unforeseen situations. The hunt itself went smoothly, but while we were returning to the city, we were surrounded by a group of fourteen Wiehenvenators. I managed to kill four of them myself, but it was obviously too early for them to fight even one. So thank you again for saving beginners," the girl replied.
"No problem, but Miss...?" asked Enea.
"Ah, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sigrid Schleifer, eldest daughter of the noble house of Schleifer and the vice commander of the Eidechsenjäger Association."
"My name is Enea Draghi and my companion," Enea said, pausing for Kazuki to introduce himself.
"Kenmoto Kazuki."
And then continued, "We are travelers and would like to ask if it would be possible to accompany you to your city, since we do not know the way. We would also like to know if there is any way for us foreigners to stay there for a while. We have recently exhausted our supplies of food and water and would like to take a break from our journey".
The moment Sigrid heard the word "travelers," her eyes began to sparkle with curiosity, and with a voice that radiated joy and excitement, she said, "So you really are travelers! I suspected it ever since I saw that strange sword you used, Mr. Enea, to behead those three Wiehenvenators: this is wonderful! Of course you can come with us. You are not only the saviors of this group of newcomers, but also the first travelers from outside the city in twenty years! I will have to get some confirmation from the captain for the stay, but with your strength level, it should be no problem."
"Perfect, then I'd say it's settled: we'll go with you to your city. Do you agree Kazuki?"
Kazuki breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the girl did not seem to be particularly suspicious of them, nodded to Enea and then turned to Sigrid and said:
"Schleifer-san, thank you very much for deciding to help us," she bowed.
"No, don't worry, Mr. Kenmoto, we are the ones who have to thank you for saving us. But is the 'san' you just added to my name a tradition in your city? Would you be so kind as to explain its meaning to me?"
"Ah, in my city, it is simply a way of addressing a person in a respectful manner. As a concept, it is similar to the 'Mr.' you used in front of my name."
"I see, thank you for your explanation, Mr. Kenmoto. Now, if you will excuse me, we should prepare to leave. It is dangerous to stay outside the city for too long with injured people: the smell of blood could attract other dangerous animals, such as Wiehenvenators". Sigrid said and walked over to the five novice hunters who were sitting tiredly on the ground.
When she arrived in front of them, Sigrid's attitude changed completely. In an extremely stern, almost militaristic tone of voice, she said:
"What are you newbies doing, do you want to die? I was sure I had taught you that no matter what condition you are in or what is happening, you must always be alert! None of you have any wounds that would prevent you from standing, so get up or I will kill you before any dinosaur does."
The five of them immediately stood up in a cold sweat and shouted in unison, "YES, MA'AM!!!"
"Perfect. we're going to leave now, and I don't want to hear any complaints on the way back. But first, go and thank Mr. Enea and Mr. Kenmoto: without their help, most of you would surely have ended up as Wiehenvenator shit, and be quick," Sigrid continued.
The five nodded and, doing their best to ignore the pain caused by their wounds, they arrived in front of Enea and Kazuki, bowed and said in unison: "Thank you for saving us, without your help, we would surely be dead! " Then they immediately formed themselves around the vehicle.
Now that Kazuki had managed to get a good look at the people he and Enea had rescued, he noticed that almost all of them had characteristics that a normal human should not have. For example, the girl he had rescued earlier had feathers in her hair, while the teeth of the boys Enea had rescued resembled those of a crocodile. Furthermore, Kazuki noticed a detail that was less strange than the dinosaur-like features that most of these six people seemed to have, but still curious: they all had hair of two colors, with one clearly dominating the other.
"Probably the dinosaur parts some of them have are the mutations the old man warned us about. But then, Sigrid, how can she be so fast? She doesn't seem to have any, and that's definitely not a speed that a normal human can achieve, especially with such a huge sword in her hand. Is it the uniform that allows her to move at such speeds? What is this two-tone hair? Is the humanity of this earth fixated on dying their hair? And is it just me or is Sigrid's personality completely different from the one she had when she was talking to us!", Kazuki thought, filling his head with questions that he decided to keep to himself for now, not wanting to appear too suspicious and not knowing how much information a person from another city should have.
When everyone had set up at the place Sigrid had indicated, the group, with the addition of Enea and Kazuki, began their journey back to their city. Kazuki and Enea went to the front of the vehicle together with Sigrid, while the remaining five members of the group had arranged themselves two on each side of the vehicle and one in the back.
"Schleifer-san, I've been wondering ever since I saw you, but what is that vehicle carrying?" asked Kazuki to Sigrid as they walked.
"I told you earlier that the hunt was a success. In this mobile freezer is the result of their work: the body of a Plateosaurus. When we get to town, we will have it skinned, and depending on the quality and quantity of the meat, these rookies who caught it will be paid accordingly. The meat will then be sold by the association at the various markets in the city," Sigrid replied.
"So the association you belong to is involved in hunting?"
"Yes, the main purpose of the association is to hunt and provide food for the city, but we also take care of removing bandits, inspecting the outer perimeter of the walls, and protecting anyone outside the dome. Basically, the Eidechsenjäger Association does most of the work that involves getting out of the city."
"That sounds like a very dangerous job."
"Yes, I can't say it's easy, but as the only member of the noble Schleifer family with no talent for making armor for the Eidechsenverteidiger, I wanted to do something to show that I was worthy of the family name. So when I found out four years ago that I was the first in my family's long history to be an Eidechsenverteidiger, I decided to become an Eidechsenjäger. At first my family was against the idea of me becoming an Eidechsenjäger, worried about my safety, but they decided to let me enlist anyway and gave me what my father called the best armor he had ever made. To repay my family for this generosity, I worked hard, and in just two years I managed to become the vice commander of the entire association..."
Sigrid paused, realizing the rudeness she thought she had just done to Kazuki. "I deeply apologize, Mr. Kenmoto. I started talking about my life without even asking you if you were interested," she said, her face turning tomato red. But Kazuki quickly tried to calm her down by saying, "Don't worry, it was a good story and it's always good to know that that exist good parents... But there was one word you mentioned a few times that I didn't understand the meaning of. It was similar to the name of the association you belong to."
Sigrid, relieved that what she had done had not bothered one of the two precious travelers, calmed down and tried to answer Kazuki's question: "You mean Eidechsenverteidiger?"
"That's right, that one. You said that you found out that you were one four years ago, what does that mean?"
"Sorry again, I hadn't thought that they probably have a different name in your town. Eidechsenverteidiger are those people who, around the age of fifteen, begin to have strands of hair of a second color in their hair, and somewhere in their body begin to develop traits of an animal. That person's strength, speed, and endurance increase dramatically, making them many times stronger and more capable of fighting than the rest of the humans."
"Ah, I see, these people are very rare in the city I come from, so I didn't think of it right away," Kazuki said as a small drop of sweat appeared on his face. "But then it means that you are also one of those special people, but you don't seem to have any animal traits, Schleifer-san." Kazuki continued while he watched Sigrid searching for her non-human body part.
"You can't see it because it's hidden by my clothes, but Mr. Kenmoto, I don't want to talk too much about this topic because it's something quite embarrassing for me, so could you please stop looking at me so intently?" said Sigrid, her face slightly red.
Realizing what she was doing, Kazuki also blushed and said, "I'M SORRY!" and immediately looked away from Sigrid's body.
There was an awkward silence between Kazuki and Sigrid for a few minutes, but it was over as soon as the group emerged from the jungle. The immense city was finally in sight.